Accurate thermophysical properties of hydrocarbons are essential for analyzing processes related to liquification, transportation, processing and storage of gaseous fuels. Among the properties of interest are the compression factor, heat capacity, entropy, enthalpy and others. These properties must be known about various fluids or gasses which are made of a mixture of gasses. Such parameters are used in determining the precise makeup of storage vessels and processing equipment as well as a multitude of other applications.
These properties are generally calculated from an equation of state using so called look up tables for the particular gas. However, these lookup tables do not include parameters for gasses that are composed of a mixture of elements. Such mixtures are referred to as multi-component gasses or fluids. Also, the accuracy of properties calculated from an equation of state depends upon the accuracy of the experimental data used in the fitting process.
The state-of-the-art technology used to measure the above characteristics include equipment to ascertain the precise chemical makeup of a multi-component gas. Generally such equipment and methods are expensive to use.
For the reasons identified in the foregoing discussion, there is a need for a low cost system to determine the thermophysical properties of a multi-component gas or fluid.